Project Overview

The Corporation holds a 100% interest in the Filo del Sol Project, which straddles the international border between San Juan Province, Argentina and Region III, Chile.

Project Description, Location and Access

The Filo del Sol Project is located in the Atacama Region of Northern Chile and adjacent San Juan province of Argentina, 140 kilometres southeast of the city of Copiapó, Chile and straddles the border between Argentina and Chile. The centre of the main deposit area is located at 28.49° S latitude and 69.66° W longitude.

Climate and Access

The climate is cold and windy, typical of the high Andes. The exploration field season runs from October to April and requires the presence of a bulldozer all season in case of sudden snowfalls. The project could be kept open all year if 2 to 3 bulldozers were kept working, but low temperatures make it difficult to work in the winter months.

Field work is based out of a camp located approximately 20 kilometres from the project in Argentina. The camp can accommodate approximately 120 people. The site is remote and, other than road access, there is no infrastructure available.

Elevations on the property range from 3,800 to 5,400 metres above sea level. The mountains are generally not rugged and vehicle access is possible to most of the property. Vegetation is almost entirely absent in the area.

Geological Setting, Mineralization and Deposit Types

Filo del Sol is a high-sulphidation epithermal copper-gold-silver deposit associated with a large porphyry copper-gold system. Overlapping mineralizing events combined with weathering effects, including supergene enrichment, have created several different styles of mineralization, including structurally-controlled gold, manto-style high-grade silver (+/- copper) and high-grade supergene enriched copper within a broader envelope of disseminated sulphide copper and gold mineralization. Mineralization is hosted in clastic rocks inferred to be part of the Jurassic-Paleocene Cuartitos formation as well as underying rhyolitic volcanic rocks inferred to be part of the Permo-Triassic basement. It is located in the Andean Frontal Mountain Range (in Spanish, Cordillera Frontal), between the Maricunga gold porphyry zone to the north and the El Indio high-sulphidation zone to the south, both of Miocene age.

Three main zones of mineralization occur on the property called, from South to North, Filo del Sol, Maranceles and Potro. Filo del Sol is by far the most advanced and is the location of the mineral resource presented here. Maranceles and Potro are defined by widespread surface alteration very similar to that seen at Filo del Sol, anomalous cooper, gold and pathfinder elements in talus fine samples and a few widely spaced, shallow drill holes.

The Filo del Sol Project displays a full transition between a high-sulphidation epithermal environment and a porphyry system, and both deposit types are represented. Weathering and supergene processes have created high-grade copper oxide and silver zones. Mineralization of potential economic interest within the Filo del Sol deposit includes high-grade leachable oxide/mixed copper mineralization, structurally controlled gold-silver mineralization, sub-horizontal “manto” high-grade silver mineralization and disseminated copper, gold, silver, molybdenum sulphide mineralization.

Exploration

Filo Mining, or its predecessor companies, have been exploring at Filo del Sol since the 1999-2000 field season. A total of twelve work programs have been completed over these years, and there have been four seasons where no work was done (2001/02, 2002/03, 2008/09, 2009/10). Exploration has been limited to the summer season, typically between November and April, and exploration seasons are described by the years which they bridge. In addition to both reverse circulation and diamond drilling, surface work completed to date has included talus fine sampling, rock chip sampling, geological mapping and induced polarization and magnetic geophysical surveys

Filo del Sol PFS Highlights:

• A $1.28 billion after-tax NPV using an 8% discount rate and an IRR of 23% at $3.00/lb copper, $1300/oz gold and $20/oz silver;
• Average annual production of approximately 67,000 tonnes of copper (including copper as copper precipitate), 159,000 ounces of gold, and 8,653,000 ounces of silver at a C1 cost of $1.23/lb CuEq.;
• An Initial Probable Mineral Reserve of 259 Mt of 0.39% copper, 0.33 g/t gold, and 15 g/t silver;
• Pre-production capital cost of $1.27 billion (excluding costs prior to a construction decision);
• 14 year mine life (including pre-stripping) producing almost 1.75 billion pounds (lbs) of copper as cathode, and 1.92 million ounces (oz) of gold and 104 million oz of silver as doré over the 13 year leach feed schedule. Additional copper is also recovered as a high-grade copper precipitate.
• Low strip ratio of 1.5:1 (waste:ore)
• Excellent metallurgy producing LME grade copper cathodes and gold and silver doré.
• Incorporates planning for a fully autonomous haul truck fleet and recovery of additional copper as sulphide precipitate with coincident regeneration of a portion of the cyanide, which drives the low estimated operating costs;
• Potential opportunities to further improve the project include:
  • Increasing metallurgical recoveries with additional test work and optimization of process parameters;
  • Delineating more or higher-grade material through continued exploration on the Company's extensive land package; and
  • Future exploitation of copper-gold sulphide material underlying the identified oxide deposit.

Filo del Sol is a high-sulphidation epithermal copper-gold-silver deposit associated with a large porphyry copper-gold system. Overlapping mineralizing events combined with weathering effects, including supergene enrichment, have created several different styles of mineralization, including structurally-controlled gold, manto-style high-grade silver (+/- copper) and high-grade supergene-enriched copper within a broader envelope of disseminated sulphide copper and gold mineralization. It is located between the Maricunga gold porphyry zone to the north and the El Indio high-sulphidation zone to the south, both of Miocene age.

The Project displays a full transition between a high-sulphidation epithermal environment and a porphyry system, and both deposit types are represented.

The Filo del Sol project encompasses a very large alteration zone and several mineralized showings within a prolific mineral district. Both high-sulphidation epithermal gold-silver-copper and porphyry copper-gold mineralization have been discovered and both styles of mineralization are compelling exploration targets. Despite a long history of exploration, the short field season and large size of the hydrothermal systems result in a project that remains under-explored and warrants significant additional work. This is reinforced by the updated mineral resource estimate which establishes an important copper-gold-silver deposit on the property and remains open in most directions.

The mineral resource estimate for the Filo del Sol deposit includes several different styles of mineralization, in terms of metal combinations and grade distribution, which occur as the result of a complex series of geological processes. Mineralization of potential economic interest within the deposit includes: high-grade leachable oxide/mixed copper mineralization; structurally controlled gold-silver mineralization; sub-horizontal "manto" high-grade silver mineralization and disseminated copper, gold and silver sulphide mineralization.

The resource remains open for expansion in several directions and at depth. To date only 3 kilometres of the approximately 7 kilometre long strike length of the Filo alteration zone has been drill tested. All holes drilled into the deposit, including the deepest holes at 500 metres long, end in mineralization and the potential for porphyry copper-gold mineralization at depth and lateral to the deposit is considered excellent.

In addition to the Filo del Sol resource, the property contains several other target areas defined by talus fine and rock sampling, geophysical surveys and geological mapping within a very large hydrothermal alteration system. These zones represent early-stage exploration targets and additional work is required to fully evaluate them.